; they are obliged to have twelve months' stock in hand; and while the
tea in America has _increased in price_ and diminished in consumption, the
_very reverse_ has taken place in England, as _official returns_ prove!
_China_ presents the very remarkable spectacle of _a civilization entirely
political_, whose principal aim has constantly been to draw closer the
bonds which unite the society it formed, and to merge, by its laws, the
interest of the individual in that of the public; an empire possessing an
active, skilful, and contented population of 155,000,000 souls, who are
spread over 1,372,450 square miles of the fairest and, probably, earliest
inhabited region of the globe--that maintains a _standing army_ of
1,182,000 men, and levies a revenue of only 11,649,912_l_. sterling--an
empire that has preserved the records of its dominion and the integrity of
its name from a period of three thousand years antecedent to our era,
while the most powerful monarchies of remote or modern ages have dwindled
into nothingness, or been borne towards the ocean of eternity, by the
swiftly destructive gulf of time,--an empire whose people have materially
contributed to advance the civilization of Europe and America, by the
discovery of the most useful arts and sciences, such as writing,[3]
astronomy, the mariner's compass, gunpowder, sugar, silk, porcelain, the
smelting and combination of metals,--and, in fine, enjoying within its own
territories all the necessaries and conveniencies, and most of the
luxuries of life; standing, as it proudly asserts, in no need of
intercourse with other countries,[4] which it is its studied policy to
prohibit,[5] openly and arrogantly proclaims its total independence of
every nation in the world!
_Origin of the Tea Trade of the East India Company_.
Pages:
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51